Meru
Meru (メル) is the cheerful, perky young dancer girl who joins Dart and the other Dragoons in their pursuit of Lloyd to stop him from stealing all the Divine Moon Objects. Character Design In English, Meru is voiced by Lucy Kee. In Japanese, she is voiced by the late Tomoko Kawakami. Meru's idle animation has her putting her hands behind her head and gently rocking from side to side. When you control her in the Forest of Winglies she will not perform her rocking idle animation, but instead she will perform an impatient, stomping animation. Meru is one of two characters (the other being Shana) who has "fidget" idle animations: she does a wide spin in place. When defending, Meru holds her hammer, mainly the pole over her face horizontally. When in Critical Health, Meru kneels down and slouches forward slightly while holding her hammer over her right shoulder. When dispirited, Meru stands straight with her knees slightly bent and her head spinning around as if dizzy; she also lazily leans against her hammer, with her hammer touching the ground as if she has lost the will to hold it up. Personality Meru is perky, cheerful, a bit childish, being especially spoiled around Dart. She also serves as a charismatic morale-booster for her team, after she joined the team even without the team's complete agreement. While she usually looks cheerful, she does have a serious side, as she shows at the Forest of Winglies upon returning home. Meru can be very upbeat, driving her party members insane, or boosting their mood at the right time. Weapons Meru's choice of weapon type is a heavy blunt polearm Attribute and Abilities Meru uses a hammer for armed combat. Her Wingly racial type gives her inhuman agility and her dancing skills. Her magic offense and defense are the second highest among the Dragoons (Shana/Miranda is the highest). However, her physical attack and defense are both low, as is her HP, with her HP being below all the other characters. Her additions are as rhythmic as her play style, but are also very fast, making her among the most fun characters to use. Meru's final addition: Perky Step is often considered the hardest to master of all; it is also the most powerful at a whopping 600% damage multiplier when maxed. Her Dragoon form maximizes her magical attributes, raises her speed by a decent factor and raises her physical attributes slightly. Due to her speed, she will quickly run through her SP, reverting herself back to normal form. The same speed gets her SP back quickly though. Burning through turns in her Special is only a good thing, though, since her Special gives no bonus for any other Dragoon, and she did all of her Dragoon actions faster. In her regular form, despite her low physical power, the damage accumulation from her attacks could be the highest. If so, it is due in part to her high speed but mostly the 600% bonus on Perky Step. [ Perky Step 600 vs Omni Sweep 500, Speed 70 vs 60. 6/5 > 7/6 ] * All characters' maximum level is 60 All of the attributes can be enhanced by Accessories, and their values are always shown as a total of the base value plus the bonus granted by currently equipped accessories. The value for the equipped accessories is never shown separately, but can only be inferred by choosing another item to equip * All characters' HP gain per level accelerates; Shana's, from an average of 24 HP for each of the first ten levels, to an average of 100 HP for each of the last ten * Physical Attack (AT) starts out, like Shana, half of Rose's at 17 for the first ten levels, and increases to 1.75 as Shana's does, until level 40, after which it skyrockets to nearly four and then 4.6 * Physical Defense (DF) stays at about 2 per level * Magical Attack (MAT) stays around 3.5 * Magical Defense (MDF) stays around 3.3 Speed is the first and foremost of the five attributes that are affected only by items; never leveling * Meru's Speed is 70 * Meru'ss base chance to hit with Physical attacks is 100%, and with Magical attacks, 110% * Meru's base chance to Evade Physical and Magical attacks is a base 5% It is hypothetically possible to hit 220 Speed by using the Dancer's Shoes, Dancer's Ring, and the Speed Up item, assuming Speed Up doubles the total Speed with Equip bonuses rather than the base Speed. Otherwise it would be 180. Either way, this combo will usually give her three turns right in a row and can be a good way to burn through Dragoon levels at the start of a boss fight, or to allow her to defend and recover HP quickly. It is also a decent way to level up her additions. Shana and Miranda, with 5 less base Speed, would have 10 less Speed, given the above setup. Haschel, with 10 less Speed, would have 20 less, but uses the Bandit's Ring instead. Entirely subject to correction, the level Meru may be at when she joins the party: seventeen.https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/197765-the-legend-of-dragoon/42851444 Additions Perky Step |lvl = Master Addition |strks = 8 |Damage1 = 200% |SP1 = 100 |Damage2 = 300% |SP2 = 100 |Damage3 = 400% |SP3 = 100 |Damage4 = 500% |SP4 = 100 |Damage5 = 600% |SP5 = 100 |soundfile = Perky Step.ogg }} Gallery Double Smack.jpg|Double Smack 23_Double_Smack.gif| Hammer Spin.jpg|Hammer Spin 24_Hammer_Spin.gif| 25_Cool_Boogie.gif| 26_Cat_Caddle.gif| 27_Perky_Step.gif| Dragoon Acquiring the Blue Sea Dragoon Spirit Meru's Dragoon Spirit of the Blue Sea Dragon is the sixth (or seventh if you obtain Kongol's spirit from the Lohan merchant right after he joins the party) spirit obtained after the battle with Lenus and Regole. As Lenus dies, she throws her blades, almost hitting Dart and Shana. With her final attempt thwarted, she calls for Lloyd one more time and closes her eyes. A bright blue light shines over Lenus, rising to reveal itself to Meru, thereby signifying her right to rule dragons. With joy, she begins to dance before the other dragoons walk out on her. Dragoon Magic As one of the most balanced Dragoons, The Blue Sea Dragoon offers healing and restoration with Rainbow Breath, along with three Water attack spells (2 for a single opponents, and one for attacking all opponents). Due to Meru's high base Magic-Attack stat (second only to Shana/Miranda), she is a wonderful healer, and attacker. Compared to her naturally low Attack stat (again, second only to Shana/Miranda), she gains a large attack boost in Dragoon form, as well as a large boost for her low Physical Defense. Her dragoon magic is particularly useful against any enemy that causes status effects (ie. Polter Armor or Divine Dragon) as well as Bosses of the Fire element (i.e. Zieg, whom she can decimate in 3 rounds when properly equipped and utilized). Story Chapter 2: Platinum Shadow Meru first appears in the Flower City, Donau, where she is being apprehended by bandits. Meru claims one of them touched her butt because they were unable to resist how pretty she was. The bandits are dumbfounded at her statement, causing Meru to get upset. She believes they weren't taking her seriously, so she winds up a strong punch that strikes through two of three of the bandits, knocking them back a great distance. The bandits immediately question her naivety, only to find out Meru knew exactly who and what they were. Intimidated by her, they fled the scene. Dart and friends walk down from the mayor's home to find Meru chasing off one of the bandits. She is at first hostile towards them, pulling out her hammer and asking them if they were apart of the Gehrich gang. Albert notices she has the same hair as Lloyd; Haschel comments everything else about them is different. Meru continues to ask about who Dart's group could be, stating they were odd looking people. She asks for Dart's name, and returns her's, introducing herself as the best dancer in Donau. Rose recommends that they ignore her and continue their mission. Albert agrees, citing their objective to rescue Lynn. Meru overhears this and becomes overjoyed, explaining that she was going to rescue Lynn too, but then those bandits came. Chapter 3: Fate and Soul Chapter 4: Moon and Fate Ending Gallery Tumblr_nk6op3CeI61unofzno2_250.jpg|Portrait meru concept art.jpg|Concept art of Meru Damia.jpg|Meru attacking a monster with her hammer in Dragoon form Fulldragoon.jpg|Meru in her Dragoon form Meru1.jpg|Meru (and Kongol) in a group photo Meru is recognized.png|Meru acquiring her Dragoon Spirit Picture 3.png|Meru rendered in-game. Medium close shot of her reaction to Lenus' death Meru_kongol_escape.png|Meru and Kongol fleeing the Moon Meru-Info.jpg|Character information page. Category:Winglies Category:Playable characters Category:Dragoons Category:Meru